Leblanc v. Texas Brine Co., LLC

United States District Court, E.D. Louisiana

April 18, 2018

LISA T. LEBLANC, ET AL.v.TEXAS BRINE CO., LLC, ET AL.

SECTION
A(5)

ORDER AND REASONS [Ref: All Cases]

JAY C.
ZAINEY UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

The
following motions are before the Court: Motion for Partial
Summary Judgment on Collateral Estoppel, Fault, and Liability
(Rec. Doc. 1626) filed by Texas Brine Co., LLC
(“TBC”).; First Motion for Summary Judgment on
Issues of Res Judicata and Collateral Estoppel (Rec. Doc.
1633) filed by Browning Oil Co., Colorado Crude Co., and
LORCA Corp.; Cross Motion for Partial Summary Judgment on
Issues of Res Judicata and Collateral Estoppel (Rec. Doc.
1639) filed by Reliance Petroleum Corp. The motions,
submitted for consideration on March 21, 2018, are before the
Court on the briefs without oral argument.

Judge
Thomas J. Kliebert, Jr. conducted a three-week bench trial
for the purpose of determining what caused the Assumption
Parish Sinkhole to form and which parties were at fault for
its formation. (“the Liability Trial”). The
plaintiffs in the Liability Trial were companies whose
pipelines traverse Assumption Parish; the defendants and
third-party defendants were the same defendants and
third-party defendants that appear in this litigation. On
December 21, 2017, Judge Kliebert issued written reasons and
a final judgment (“the Liability Judgment”) that
apportioned fault for the sinkhole as follows:

Oxy
Entities 50% of fault; TBC 35% of fault; Vulcan 15% of fault.

This
Court held a status conference on February 1, 2018, at which
the Court stated:

The parties' preconference submissions demonstrate that
the res judicata effect, if any, of Judge Kliebert's
liability determination should be resolved before bellwether
trials are scheduled in this Court. TBC is persuaded that the
liability ruling by Judge Kliebert in state court is res
judicata as to certain parties in this litigation. Therefore,
TBC shall file a motion seeking a ruling on the issue of res
judicata as to the specific Phase I parties that TBC contends
are bound by the judgment . . . . Once the res judicata
effect of the judgment is determined, which in turn will
determine the scope of the bellwether trials proposed for the
fall of 2018, the Court will be in a better position to
address the joint proposal for resolving in 2018 all Phase I
outstanding claims asserted by plaintiffs.

(Rec. Doc. 1623, Minute Entry 2/1/18).

TBC
filed its motion and the motions by the third party
defendants-Browning Oil Co., Colorado Crude Co., LORCA Corp.,
and Reliance Petroleum Corp.-followed.[1]

In
deciding the preclusive effect of a state court judgment in
federal court, the court applies the law of the state that
rendered the judgment. In re Gober, 100 F.3d 1195, 1201
(5th Cir. 1996) (citing Marrese v. Am. Academy of
Ortho. Surgeons, 470 U.S. 373, 380 (1985)). Louisiana law
therefore governs the preclusive effect that Judge
Kliebert's ruling will have in this federal litigation.

Louisiana's
res judicata statute provides in relevant part:

Except as otherwise provided by law, a valid and final
judgment is conclusive between the same parties, except on
appeal or other direct review, to the following extent . . .
[a] judgment in favor of either the plaintiff or the
defendant is conclusive, in any subsequent action between
them, with respect to any issue actually litigated and
determined if its determination was essential to that
judgment.

Thus,
there are three requirements for issue preclusion: (1) a
valid and final judgment; (2) identity of the parties; and
(3) an issue that has been actually litigated and determined
if its determination was essential to the prior ...

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